AN INDUSTRIAL CRISIS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 662, 12 November 1909, Page 6

AN INDUSTRIAL CRISIS.

';• Even.'.:,:amidst' 'the distractions;'of ; >;thc. Budget brought down by . Gin :: JosephWard, tho coal crisis in tho Mother State of Australia will claim no. email sharo. of .the attention of Newt:Zcalandere.. With startling suddenness tho State, has boon.brought faeo to face with tho gravindustrial situation that Australia haß known eirice the Ballarat troublo of nearly, half a century ago. The first public ■warning of the present troublo was not given until Saturday last, whon a long telegram from the Newcastle correspondent of tho Sydney Morning Herald reported that a general striko was in course oi arrangement. For months past tho Nowcastle-MaiMand field has been in a state of unrest, and disputes have been daily increasing. Many of the grievances of tho men ap'poar to be quite ones', and call for redress. But tho merit of thoir claims is obscured by the fact that they have decided on a course which sets at defiance ithe very laws specially passed in thoir interests for- tho regulation of industry. Tho? dispute has ecasad to bo a question as to tbio rights ofoithereide or. the abstract reasonableness of either party's case, It is a simple question of anarchy against law. The mon, in sotting the. law at defiance,, are hopelessly .in tho wrong:, Tho Industrial Disputes Act • forbidß strikes, ahd provides .very hfeavy penalties against offondorß. Like the, case of the Blackball piiriers, the Now South; Wales miners are ready to flout tho law- that aids them when it may suit them to do soi Wo need not : further discuss this aspect of thf situation. :-.'- ~.■ ; ;;v: :■: ■

The main interest is how in the action that -syill bo taken by the Government. 'In his method of dealing with the tramways strike in : Sydney, Mti. Wad£ 'showed that hi was made of firmer stuff than oiir own PttiME Minister, and he hae already ,takon.-up:a stand .in the present grave situation which contrasts very sharply with tho attitude'of the- Now Zealand Government when faced with the Blackball crisis.' Sin Joseph Ward not only refused vto i.se't , tho law ip operation against tho Blackball but actually declared that ho would personally interpose between the ■nation! arid,'the offendorV: against the nation's laws. In a statement to Parliament, roportqd in; our. issue of yesterday,;.Mβ,;;Wad6 announced that; while ho intended to- do' what ;he> could, to adjust tho differences \botfaeon the miners' and their employers,, the.Goyeminent could not cl6e6 its cyds to its' duty of defending the. integrity of-,tho Industrial Disputes Act. :■'■' If tho Government, '' bo eaid, " found: a .manifest tation made clear that there was a desire to .spread-trouble throughout ; the community, and ip. wago;war upon, the'public,' it could,be,,depended.,upon that the Government, would do'its duty without shrinking.'! 'We in ,. New'i Zealand are better able than most .peoplo.W appreciate and applaud' thcse r sentiments,, and to envy a: State'Hvhbse political 'leaders "'■ hftvn' sufficient courage to face .their : duty to the public.:, 'I In , the event of any ! longthy. interruption of; tho coal indurtry in. Now South (Wales, tho New Zealand consumer ; v rnay,be asked; to pdyi a higher price ifor his eoal,.and this country inay .ftleo be embarrassed ia othet respects.' The/course of 'ovents in Now. . South Walbß ;,will .be 'carefully watched,-for there"seems,tobe every prospoet; that'>';.question will bo, answered concerning {which thore is no- absolute certa l inty i and which is of great import-nnc6"to..Nbw.-,lZ(ialand.'';\Thlß qucsfclofi' is whether it is possible offectiyoly to enforce I the penal provisions, of 'anti-strike laws against /a largo body of determined strikers.' Mil.'Wade may be- oxpected' to

take A firm stand, on his duty as thu guardian of tho law, and he will no doubt rally to his support every fair* mindod man in tho State. The situation, howovor, is an extremely grave and diffi-

cult one, and tho consequents of the strike, if continued ( for any length of time, will bo wido-reaching and in some respects disastrous.